Jana Pittman - Our new World Champ !!

[Donny]

Jana Pittman beat the world record holder, Yuliya Pechonkina, to win the final of the 400 metres hurdles at the World Championships.

Congratulations and well done, Jana.

[Donny]

Anthony C posted:

What a fantastic achievement by someone so young. Makes you wonder if Cathy Freeman might want to come out of retirement for a crack at the 4x400 at next year's Olympics. Good to see us win on the track.


Just one article of many on her win:

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,7099961-23209,00.html
_________________
Go Pies!

[Joel]

Serious? That is a sensational effort. Well done Jana!!!!!

[Donny]

Jana pushes for the double
By Sharri Markson
September 14, 2003

JANA PITTMAN has set herself the challenge of winning both the 400m and 400m hurdles at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

With her sights already beyond gold at Athens, Pittman has requested a change to the Commonwealth Games schedule to allow her to compete for double gold.

"I'm putting a campaign in at the moment because I'd like to run both events at all the majors. But they never let you because the program always clashes," she said.

"I love the 400. It's very similar to the 400 hurdles except you need to think on your feet a bit more in the hurdles.

"I'll hopefully run both at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne."

Although taking a three-week break to hang out with girlfriends, eat junk food and watch footy, the 20-year-old's thoughts do not stray far from the track at Athens.

"I'm still beatable because I'm human. If the Russian girl comes out and runs 50.7sec and smashes the world record, I'm not ready to run that," she said.

Shocked at the front pages discussing her private life, Pittman has decided to follow Cathy Freeman's lead and keep that part of her to herself.

Similar advice has come from both her manager and ex-fiance Rohan Robinson.

"I'm a very open person, so it's quite hard not to talk about things," she said.

"It came down to everyone ringing and saying 'Is it true?' I'm not going to lie.

"I honestly thought it might get one page of news at the back of sport, at the most.

"Rohan's a very private person. If we don't work in the future, or even if we do, I would never make the relationship public again."

On reflection, Pittman said she is sad she could not fully celebrate her victory and regrets her world championship win was overshadowed by her relationship break-up.

Since her return to Australia last week, Pittman has had a wake-up call, realising the impact fame will have on her personal life.

"You are public property now," she said.

"You are on show. I went to Maccas the other day and someone said 'I can't believe you are eating McDonald's'. I was only eating a low fat muffin, too! And I don't think I'd go into a McDonald's again now."

After a trip to Canberra on Friday, Pittman has spent the weekend in a Sydney city penthouse apartment with girlfriends, including swimmer Elka Graham.

"I think we'll have a girls night in. Because if you go to a club people are like 'Ooh, there's Jana Pittman'," she said.